The Ultimate Surrender

Only when she went into the bathroom a few minutes later she was disconcerted to find that a couple of the towels had been used and left to air on the heated towel rail.

How odd! They weren’t the towels she had used, and nor were they hung on the rail the way she would have hung them. Perhaps the maid hadn’t replaced them after all…She had turned down the bed, though—both sides of it, Polly noticed in amusement.

No doubt that was something she did automatically for all double rooms, even when they were only being used for a single occupancy.

A nice long soak in a hot bath and then she intended to go to bed. She had brought a book with her so she could read for a while if she wanted to.

Turning on the bath taps, Polly determinedly refused to allow herself to dwell on what Marcus would be doing now.

They would probably have finished their meal. Perhaps they would retire to the bar afterwards, or maybe they would go straight to Marcus’s room.

There were some things, some pains that not even the warmest, most deliciously scented water could ease, Polly acknowledged despairingly.

It was only when she had stepped out of the bath and wrapped herself in one of the courtesy bathrobes the hotel provided that she opened her overnight bag and realised that she had forgotten to bring a nightdress with her.

Not that it mattered!

One of the herbal sleeping tablets she always took with her when she was away from home would soon help her get off to sleep. Padding naked over to the bed, she slid into it and reached out to switch off the lights.

Twenty minutes later she was fast asleep.

CHAPTER SIX

‘EXCUSE me a moment.’ Marcus apologised tersely to Suzi, getting up from the table and striding out into the hotel foyer hard on the heels of Polly and Phil, coming to an abrupt halt when he realised that there was no sign of either of them. He had guessed right from the moment he had rung Fraser House asking to speak with Polly, only to be told that she was in London ‘on business’, just what her business was likely to be and with whom…And it gave him a certain sense of bitter satisfaction to know how shocked she had been to see him.

‘Can I help you, sir?’

Marcus frowned as the receptionist smiled politely at him.

‘Yes. Mr Bernstein and…’

‘Oh, Mr Bernstein has just gone up to his suite. He gave instructions that he isn’t to be disturbed, I’m afraid.’

Grimly Marcus looked towards the lift. The temptation to go up to Phil Bernstein’s suite and physically compel Polly to leave with him was so strong that he had to ball his hands into fists to stop himself from giving in to it. Couldn’t she see what she was doing? Bernstein might be all flattering attention now, but Suzi had told him about her employer’s penchant for brief affairs. It had been providential that Suzi had already invited him to have dinner with her, and although initially he had declined her invitation she had been more than happy to have him change his mind. What he hadn’t been prepared for, though, was that Polly actually intended to spend the night with Phil Bernstein. He ached to go after her, to physically separate her from Phil Bernstein if necessary, but he knew that he couldn’t—that he didn’t have that right.

‘Marcus…’

Marcus tensed as Suzi herself came hurrying out of the restaurant in search of him.

‘Is something wrong?’ she asked.

‘No,’ he responded. ‘I was just hoping to catch Polly. There was something I wanted to say to her.’

‘Yes, I should imagine there is,’ Suzi agreed, raising her eyebrows as she criticised contemptuously, ‘She really is making a fool of herself. She can’t possibly imagine that Phil is really attracted to her, surely? I mean, he can have his pick of much more glamorous and younger women…’ she continued disparagingly. Then saw the way Marcus was frowning at her.

‘But of course you’re bound to feel you have to defend her. She is, after all, a member of your family.’ She gave him a sideways glance. ‘I suppose I should really feel sorry for her. She’s going to come down to earth with a very nasty bump when Phil drops her. Still, we mustn’t let them spoil our night, must we?’ she asked him. She reached out invitingly towards him as she told him, ‘I can’t offer to take you up to my room. It wouldn’t be…politic…but we could go back to your hotel…’

‘No, I don’t think that would be a very good idea,’ Marcus replied wryly, shaking his head.

The last thing he wanted to do was to go to bed with Suzi when all he could think about was Polly. And Suzi didn’t want him anyway; she just wanted a man—any man. Oh, God Polly: What was she doing? Was she all right?